February is Heart Month, and the federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Jane Philpott, chose to kick it off by coming to the Ottawa Heart Institute to announce $2.9 million in funding for five of its researchers. Heart disease is the second-leading cause of death in Canada. This funding, through...
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It’s 2062. The world is a futuristic utopia of push-button conveniences made possible by technology. Even visiting the doctor happens virtually via videophone. Such was the premise of the popular American animated sitcom, The Jetsons, which first hit airwaves in 1962. But, as Cardiac Telehealth...
The good news is that their hearts are in the right place. Women in Canada see themselves as their families’ “heart keepers,” playing a significant role in maintaining everyone’s heart health, whether it’s the food they serve, the physical activity they encourage, or the non-smoking households they...
Shoehorned into a small room, the first positron emission tomography (PET) scanner at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute made possible a dedicated PET imaging service for heart patients one day a week. That was in 1995, and cardiologist Rob Beanlands, MD, physicist Rob deKemp, PhD, and nuclear...
With roughly half a million Canadians now living with heart failure, the condition is an increasingly common one that can seriously impact an individual’s quality of life. Even when appropriately treated, hospital admission and readmission rates are stubbornly high. George Wells, Director of the...
When someone you love dies, it can feel like the ground has shifted under your feet. Grief affects us all differently, and there is no single “right” way to cope. We are here to support you through this process.
Arrhythmias — disturbances of the heart’s normal rhythm—affect more than 1.5 million Canadians and can impact a person’s health and well-being in a variety of ways. Sudden cardiac death caused by an arrhythmia kills 40,000 people every year. An estimated 350,000 Canadians are living with atrial...
More than half a million Canadians are living with heart failure and another 50,000 join their ranks each year. The standard treatment for heart failure has not changed for quite some time. Now, a new drug—so new that it’s identified only as LCZ696—is generating interest among cardiologists and...
Not all treatments work in all patients, but often it’s not possible to know ahead of time who will benefit. The Ottawa Heart Institute recently became the first centre in Canada to use a new radioactive tracer clinically to better define the prognosis of a patient in heart failure. The tracer...
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) is leading Canada's first dedicated walking rehabilitation program for people with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a painful and debilitating “hardening” of the arteries outside of the heart, most commonly in the legs. The first-of-its-kind...
In less than a decade, the search for common genetic variations that alter people’s risk of disease has changed the way we think about genetic risk. In the world of cardiovascular medicine, 36 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)—the tiny genetic changes that help to differentiate one individual’s...
A recent conference in Washington, D.C., on cardiovascular research technologies hailed the success of life-saving strategies for emergency heart attack patients who suffer ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The Beat spoke about recent developments in these strategies with Dr. Michel Le May...
All exercise is good, and some is better than none, but the health benefits of Nordic walking are superior, study finds. Cardiovascular rehab programs and exercise in general is known to improve the health of people with heart disease. However, less is known about whether such improvements are...
Pour yourself some eggnog and cozy up by the fireplace. Our holiday reading list is here! This year, our must-reads include articles about a better way to exercise, newly established research chairs, takeaways from a premier cardiovascular event, and the golden future of cardiac tissue repair. Here...
Nurses make up the largest professional group within the healthcare workforce and their work is perceived as being physically and mentally demanding. According to a National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses in Canada conducted in 2005, an alarming proportion of Canadian nurses then reported...
Occupational therapy is proving to be one of the most important ways to avoid readmission to hospital. This was the finding of a study recently published in the journal Medical Care Research and Review which found readmission rates for heart patients were lower in hospitals that invested more in...
Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death, but there are many behaviours you can change to decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Online cardiovascular calculators, powered by big data and artificial intelligence (AI), are making it easier than ever before to help...
Atrial fibrillation is a complex condition in that its causes vary from person to person, impacting its underlying mechanisms, what triggers episodes and which treatments are effective in each individual. In addition, afib can be difficult to diagnose because it is often episodic nature and in some...
Much of modern health care is made possible by medical devices—the countless tools, equipment and instruments used in health care delivery and patient care. Pocket glucose monitors that check blood sugar levels on the go. Specialized retractors that support new surgical techniques. Cardiac stents...
Our top 5 stories of 2018 covered a variety of important heath topics: innovative techniques and technology, continuing medical education in Canada, tips for better managing stress, and, yes, recreational pot, too. 5 th position (Fluoro)Less is More When it Comes to Cardiac Ablation 4 th position...